Chapter 10: Frankenstein's Monster

Having been semi-conscious, all he could think about was Nathalia. Then, a sort of faded memory came to mind. Van Helsing had met Nathalia before, but he felt that there was something more about them. Something that happened long ago and just kept biting his mind away, wanting to remember but not being able to. He was dazed amd confused for now and he couldn't concentrate.

Water dripped and then he heard rustling nearby, along with a moan. Anna emerged form the pile of debris and wood, sitting up and getting out, a hand over her throbbing head. She groaned out loud and ran to her, covering her mouth quickly. He had remembered seeing a pile of bone nearby and suspected something lurking within.

"There's something down here." he whispered to her, removing his hand from her mouth as he did. She took out her sword as he walked towards the pile of bones ahead. "And its carnivorous." he said, examining the bones. They seemed to have come from rats. He spotted a small Bible beside the mound.

"Whatever it is," he said, picking up the book, "it appears to be... human."

They continued to walk, Van Helsing following a trail of footprints. "I'd say he's a size 17, around 360 pounds," he said, examining them closely.

Behind him, Anna was impressed about his skills and how sure of himself he was. Not even she could guess what or who would be down here. who would be down here, living under the charred ruins of the windmill that burned down a year ago?

"Eigh and a half ot nine feet tall," he continued, pointing to one footprint and then looked at her, "he has a bad gimp in his right leg," his face suddenly fell, but Anna was just too impressed to even notice the dissapointing face he had given. "And, uh, three copper teeth." he said, reaching for his revolver.

Now hearing this, Anna doubted he figured that out after careful examination of tracks and height. "How do you know he has caopper teet?" she asked, not believeing him one bit.

"Because he's standing right behind you. Move!" He pushed her aside and pointed his gun at what moved behind her. Whatever it was, his revolver was thrown away from his grip and he was grabbed and thrown inot the water below.

Anna was on her back, staring at the huge figure that loomed over her. It turned around, it's hood falling off to revealed what seemed to be decaying, blue flesh, but had remained the way it was. Not as disfiguring as she had thought so. And, indeed, it had copper teeth. she gasped, recognizing who it was.

"Oh my God." she begand to move clmsily on her elbows, trying to escape. "It's Frankenstein's monster."

"Monster?" he growled, offended by what she had told him. "Who's the monster here?" he said, grabbing her by her shoulders and pushing her against the stone wall. "I have done nothing wrong! And yet you and you're kind all wish me dead!" he roared at her.

Van Helsing pushed himself against the monster, Anna being released for its grip. Having bashed its head against the wall, he heard and electrical crackling. Its head had been bashed hard enough to fall apart, it's face litereally dangling. Van Helsing grabbed him byt his shoulders only to be electorcuted and blasted back into the water.

Replacing the dangling pieces back to his head and face he turned back to Anna who scurried away from him. She tripped and layed back on her back, moving back. Hitting the wall and reaching a dead end, she asked him one thing. "What do you want?"

He stopped and he stared at her softly. "To exist." he said mournfully.

She heard a whizzing sound and Frankenstein yelled out, reaching for his back as he fell on his knees. Anna took the oppurtunity to run behind him and pick up the revolver Van Helsing had dropped. She cocked it and aimed it the monster. "No!" A hand grabbed her wrist and lowered her hand.

"We must kill it!" she protested, bewildered. "Now you say not to kill something evil!?" she yelled at him.

"If you value your lives... and the lives of your kind... you will kill me!" he panted aloud, the sleeping darts working its effect.

Anna was more than willing to kill the creature when she pointed the gun at him again. Van Helsing pushed her arm away. "No." he said as he walked towards the creature.

"If Dracula finds me-" he cut himself off, waiting for their full attention. "I'am the key to life- life for Dracula's children." he said hopelessly.

"He already awakened them last night." Van Helsing said.

The creature chuckle weakly, almost sarcastically. "Those were from only one bride," he said, "from one single birthing." He paused for a moment, then he spoke again, his voice more panicked. "And they died as the ydid the last time he tried." he stopped again, catching his breath. "Only with me... can he give them lasting life." he sounded more calm this time.

"There are more? More of those things?" the hunter asked, not being able to believe what he just heard.

The creature looked off into the abyss. "Thousands. Thousands more."

"Who else knows you're here?" Van Helsing asked.

Frankensteind looked at him. "A vampire." he said. "But she is not like them. She gave my father the proper burial ground after the fire." his voice began to break at the mention of his deceased father.

"She? Who was she?" Anna asked, curious as to who the monster was mentioning, but she suspected she knew who he may be talking about.

"She gave me no name." he said, falling inot the sleep slumber the darts were induced into him.

Van Helsing looked at Anna. "It could've been Nathalia." he said. Anna no longer payed attention to what he said, she pointed her gun at the creature once more. "No!" he reached out for her hand again.

"You heard what he said!" she said, pulling her hand from his firm grip.

"My life, my-my job, is to vanquish evil. I can- I can sense evil." he said stuttering, trying to decipher for himself what he was trying to say.

"Right. The same way you misjudged Nathalia before? Why not with this monster?!" Anna yelled at him, annoyed. He sighed and nodded his head approvingly. "I understand, and forgive me if it bothered you and her, but this thing," he said, pointing to the slumbering creature, "man, whatever it is, evil may have created it, may have left its mark on it, but evil does not rule it, so I cannot kill it." he explained.

Anna would not take it as a reason why. "I can." She pointed her gun again, but was grabbed once more. "Not while I'm here." he said sternly.

"Anna, your family has spent 400 years trying to kill Dracula. Maybe this poor creature can help us find a way." he explained, hoping to convince her. She looked at him and he looked at her with approving eyes. Then they both heard rustling ahead. Both looked up to see Velkan in his werewolf form. Van Helsing reached for his holster, realizing that Anna had it.

He was surprised to here gunshots. She was shooting at her brother, or the beast who was her brother, only missing him by inches. The werewolf growled as it dissapeared above. "Oh my God." Anna whispered. "He's seen us. Now they'll come for him and neither you nor I will be able to stop them."

"If I can get him to Rome," Van Helsing said, having thought of it throught, "we can protect him there."

ooo

"He hasn't arrived." she said impatiently.

"Patience, my dear. He will not fail you." Dracula assured her, hands on her shoulders. "Of that, I'am certain."

"Promise me thatyou will have Gabriel here s othat I may kill him myself." she said, anger raging in her voice.

Dracula chuckled. "Of course. Anyhing for you." he said, kissing her neck lightly.

A growling sound echoed through the empty walls. The werewolf appeared, walking steadily on two legs, like a human being. It was, in fact, part human. He walked towards her and she pulled away from Dracula's grasp. "Was the monster there?" she asked the beast.

He nodded and then gave a low growl. "They were there as well, weren't they?" she asked, suspecting that he growled because he had seen the threat. He nodded, assuring her of her assumption.

She looked back at Dracula. "We need to move. They will surely take him far away from you grasp, Master." she told him.

"Do not worry, my dear Nathalia." he said. "We will make sure they do not leave. They will not make it out of this nightmare alive."

Nathalia nodded in agreement. "I shall make sure of that."

A/N: Dun-dun-dun! Oh no, Nathalia's been brainwashed! And its all because of me! Oh well, makes the story more interesting, doesn't it? Well, hate to leave you here with the cliffie, but I got to go. Ciao!

With love,

Luna

Next chapter: Hell on Wheels